John Fogerty

When I sat down with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member John Fogerty recently to discuss his new all-star album revisiting his Creedence Clearwater Revival songbook , we spoke about many of those collaborations for the feature story that will appear in the Sunday Arts & Books section. With more than a dozen artists participating on “Wrote a Song for Everyone,” including the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert , Tom Morello and Jennifer Hudson, there were far more stories to tell than we could cover in one article.

It would be hard to find someone who worked with three-time Oscar-winning movie and music producer Saul Zaentz and came out of it feeling neutral about him. Some admired him, including director Milos Forman, who won Oscars for two Zaentz films, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus. " "It was a wonderful collaboration," Forman said Saturday. "Usually there is some friction between the producer and director or whatever. But with him, never. " And then there is John Fogerty, songwriter and singer with Creedence Clearwater Revival.

When John Fogerty's wife, Julie, suggested over dinner one night that he revisit his catalog of Creedence Clearwater Revival songs with artists he admires today, he wasn't about to let the music take a back seat to technology. "I realize nowadays with the ease of digital that a lot of stuff gets made by emailing files around," said Fogerty, who turns 68 on Tuesday, the same day his new album, "Wrote a Song for Everyone," is released and he headlines a show at the El Rey Theatre. "I wanted it all to take place in the same room, kinda old school, as it were.

Most of the attention on John Fogerty's just-released album “Wrote a Song for Everyone” understandably surrounds the updated versions of many of his Creedence Clearwater Revival classics with duet partners such as the Foo Fighters, Miranda Lambert, Jennifer Hudson, Bob Seger and Brad Paisley. But the good news for longtime Fogerty-watchers comes with the two new songs he delivers on his own, “Mystic Highway” and “Train of Fools,” which carry forward the songwriting style, infectious country-rock rhythms and evocative thematic terrain that define his heyday with Creedence four decades ago. "Mystic Highway” is being released as a single, and the video premieres Tuesday on the Country Music Television cable channel and at CMT.com, in conjunction with the album's release, Fogerty's concert Tuesday night at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles and his 68th birthday.

How many solo albums has John Fogerty, one of the most celebrated figures in rock history, had since Creedence Clearwater Revival called it quits in 1972? The most likely answer is two: "Centerfield," his great 1985 comeback, and "Eye of the Zombie," the less successful 1986 follow-up. But the correct answer is four.

John Fogerty ranks in the upper echelon of rock 'n' roll with Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. His songs, such as "Proud Mary" and "Bad Moon Rising," made Creedence Clearwater Revival the biggest selling rock group after the Beatles broke up in 1970. But a decade ago, legal and financial problems caused an artistic paralysis that blocked Fogerty from making any new records for nine years.

About eight weeks ago, John Fogerty walloped a chair and broke his right hand in two places, all over a song. "I thought I was restraining myself, but in moments of passion you don't always do that well," the former lead singer, guitarist and all-around mastermind of Creedence Clearwater Revival told The Times. Fogerty's knuckle-busting anger was aroused by yet another costly round in a decade-old legal feud with his former patron-turned-nemesis, Fantasy Records president Saul Zaentz.

There was no mistaking the distinctive rasp on the other end of the phone line, but there was something new in Bruce Springsteen's voice -- John Fogerty heard dejection coming through the line, as well as enough pauses to suggest that his typically articulate friend was more than a little dazed by the world. It was Nov. 3, and just a few hours earlier, the presidential election had wrapped up with another phone call -- the one offering Sen. John F. Kerry's concession to President Bush.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it potentially more costly to file a copyright infringement suit, ruling that losers can be forced to pay the legal fees of the winning side. The 9-0 decision came in an unusual case in which rock music legend John Fogerty was sued for allegedly copying his own earlier work after selling the rights to a record company.

John Fogerty has made peace with his past and his present, and his live show is all the better for it. He finally settled his notoriously acrimonious dispute with Fantasy Records, which kept him from playing Creedence Clearwater Revival songs in concert for decades. His bitterness gone, he's written some of his most powerful material in years on his new album, "Revival," which came out in October.

No, Mick Jagger isn't pointing in the photo above at Carrie Underwood, who joined the Rolling Stones at their Toronto tour stop Saturday night, just to say, “Does this authorized souvenir T-shirt rock or what? And it's a bargain at $40 at RollingStones.com!” Actually, they were singing “It's Only Rock & Roll” as Underwood joined the ever-expanding list of guests during the group's current 50 and Counting tour. PHOTOS: The Rolling Stones celebrate 50-years So far on the U.S. tour, “The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band” has enlisted assistance from a raft of pop, rock and country stars, including No Doubt's Gwen Stefani, Keith Urban, Dave Grohl, John Fogerty and John Mayer.

When John Fogerty's wife, Julie, suggested over dinner one night that he revisit his catalog of Creedence Clearwater Revival songs with artists he admires today, he wasn't about to let the music take a back seat to technology. "I realize nowadays with the ease of digital that a lot of stuff gets made by emailing files around," said Fogerty, who turns 68 on Tuesday, the same day his new album, "Wrote a Song for Everyone," is released and he headlines a show at the El Rey Theatre. "I wanted it all to take place in the same room, kinda old school, as it were.

When I sat down with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member John Fogerty recently to discuss his new all-star album revisiting his Creedence Clearwater Revival songbook , we spoke about many of those collaborations for the feature story that will appear in the Sunday Arts & Books section. With more than a dozen artists participating on “Wrote a Song for Everyone,” including the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert , Tom Morello and Jennifer Hudson, there were far more stories to tell than we could cover in one article.

Members of the L.A. quartet Dawes have been performing for paying audiences since they were teenagers, so there was no reason John Fogerty could see to go easy on them. "Let's do it one more time," said the veteran roots rocker, standing onstage in jeans and a plaid shirt at the Moody Theater in Austin, Texas. Fogerty had recruited Dawes to back him during a concert at the South by Southwest music festival - part of the lead-in to his upcoming album of all-star collaborations - and in an early-afternoon soundcheck the musicians were running through the Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Someday Never Comes.

The recent news that country singer Tim McGraw's record company is suing him over his latest album is just the latest of many stranger-than-fiction examples of artist-label relations going south. In 1993, the head of John Fogerty's record label sued him for sounding too much like ... John Fogerty, arguing that his single "The Old Man Down the Road" was merely a remake of Fogerty's old Creedence Clearwater Revival hit "Run Through the Jungle. " (Fogerty won.) That had followed an equally surreal case from 1984, when Neil Young was sued by his label at the time, Geffen Records, for not sounding enough like himself.

After the 1972 flameout of Creedence Clearwater Revival, ending its short reign as America's most popular rock band, John Fogerty launched a solo career in a surprising way. His debut effort was titled "The Blue Ridge Rangers" and consisted of country and folk-rooted songs he'd always loved. Suddenly without a band behind him, Fogerty played all the instruments and sang all the vocals himself. He didn't even put his name on it: The album jacket showed silhouettes of what appeared to be five guys wearing cowboy hats, playing guitars, fiddle and upright bass.

Along with such films as "Apocalypse Now" and "The Deer Hunter," John Fogerty's song "Who'll Stop the Rain" remains one of the cultural touchstones of the Vietnam era. In the 1970 hit for his band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fogerty spoke about the helplessness millions felt watching the body count in a war that seemed to them pointless and heartbreaking. Long as I remember the rain been comin' down Clouds of myst'ry pourin' confusion on the ground.

John Fogerty interviews during the last two decades have been almost as scarce as John Fogerty albums, but the creative force behind Creedence Clearwater Revival agreed to talk about the band and rock music on the eve of CCR's induction in Los Angeles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

John Fogerty has made peace with his past and his present, and his live show is all the better for it. He finally settled his notoriously acrimonious dispute with Fantasy Records, which kept him from playing Creedence Clearwater Revival songs in concert for decades. His bitterness gone, he's written some of his most powerful material in years on his new album, "Revival," which came out in October.

When Bruce Springsteen recently lauded John Fogerty as "our generation's Hank Williams," many rock fans were surprised by the lavishness of his praise. They shouldn't have been. Widely heralded as the greatest country songwriter ever and a huge influence on rock 'n' roll, Williams expressed heartache and blue-collar aspirations with such emotional purity and economy of language that there never seemed to be a wasted note or word in his songs.